Dartmouth's Tim McIntee: 46 Drill

Dartmouth lacrosse assistant Tim McIntee’s drill teaches the fundamentals of team defense at any skill level.

The 46 Drill is designed to teach man-to-man defense using an adjacent slide package. We’re always working on our communication, recognition, angles and approaches to or away from the ball.

The concept is simple: everyone’s on a string moving into the ball and recovering to the crease, then finishing out the back into the ball again. The great thing about the 46 Drill is that you can walk or jog through the drill, or play at full speed. You can use a ball or just air pass, whatever helps your players understand the adjacent slide package.

Each player receiving a pass will look to beat his defender top side or underneath to keep the defenders conscious of their angles and approaches.

As the coach, you can script out what you want to see, then work up to freelance offense vs. defense. Remember to use your slide-and-recover terms for your defense. (Ours are “slide,” “fill,” “recover,” “splitter” and “QB.”)

Goals of the 46 Drill

Get everyone on the same page.

Use your defensive terminology or language. The goalie is the QB.

The dodger moves and defenders hold areas off-ball. When the ball moves, we move.

Learn how to get ballside heavy so the defense gets to the next pass on time.

Keep the dodger in the alley.

Slide on time, maintaining high-side leverage, and get a chunk of the dodger.

Protect your skip pass lanes by keeping your body out to the ball stick in the lane.

Force single passes; don’t allow the skip passes.

Create a push-pull system where everyone’s on a string.

Teach spoking in and out of the crease, getting out to the ball and getting in off-ball.

Protect the crease off-ball. Follow the ball or dodger down.

Learn to slide and recover faster than the ball moves.

Every player's position and responsibility changes throughout the drill.

Work on 1-on-1 defense, teaching players how to contain their man.

Hammer home never getting caught up or hung up by the cage when rotating cross-crease.

Work hard to maintain your shape, whether it's a box, diamond or triangle.